Fourth song (part 6)

Fourth Song (Part 6), dated July 1957, continues the musical sequence within Amano's publication series. By the fourth iteration, the song metaphor has acquired accumulated meaning from the preceding three songs, and this installment can play with, extend, or subvert the visual patterns established earlier. The progression from first to fourth song creates a sense of development analogous to movements within a musical suite.

This monochrome ink-on-paper woodblock print operates within the same formal constraints as its companion songs, but the specific arrangement of carved and printed marks creates a distinct visual rhythm. Amano's commitment to executing each part by hand, cutting his own blocks and pulling his own impressions, means that the physical act of making each song was itself a kind of performance, with the bodily rhythms of carving and printing leaving their trace in the finished work.